• Eun-Hee Kim, Pyoyoon Kang, In Sun Song, Sang-Hwan Ji, Young-Eun Jang, Ji-Hyun Lee, Hee-Soo Kim, and Jin-Tae Kim.
• From the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea (E-H K, PK, ISS, S-HJ, Y-EJ, J-HL, H-SK, J-TK) and Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea (H-SK, J-TK).
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2022 Aug 1; 39 (8): 656-661.

BackgroundCentral venous catheterisation in neonates and infants is challenging because of the small size of the vessels. The curve of the J-tip guidewire causes difficulty when inserting because of the larger radius and the tilted angle of the J-tip.ObjectiveWe hypothesised that a straight-tip guidewire can facilitate guidewire insertion and improve the first-attempt success rate of central venous catheterisation.DesignA randomised controlled study.SettingThis study was performed between September 2018 and July 2021 in tertiary care children's hospital.PatientsWe enrolled infants weighing less than 5 kg undergoing general anaesthesia.InterventionsPatients were randomly allocated to the straight-tip or J-tip groups. Ultrasonography-guided catheterisation was performed using the assigned guidewire.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome was the first-attempt success rate of central venous catheterisation. The secondary outcomes included the number of guidewire insertion attempts, the time required for successful guidewire insertion, and total time for central venous catheter placement.ResultsEighty-eight patients were studied. The straight-tip group showed a higher first attempt success rate than the J-tip group (86.3 vs. 61.3%, P  = 0.007, odds ratio 4.0, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4 to 11.4]. Guidewire insertion attempts were higher in the J-tip group than in the straight group ( P  = 0.002, odds ratio 9.6, 95% CI, 7.9 to 92.9). Although the guidewire insertion time was longer in the J-tip group ( P  = 0.003, median difference 23.0 s, 95% CI, 7.0 to 48.0), the total catheterisation time was similar owing to the additional guidewire change process in the straight-tip group ( P  = 0.676).ConclusionIn neonates or infants weighing less than 5 kg, central venous catheterisation using a flexible straight-tip guidewire can improve the first-attempt success rate compared with a J-tip guidewire.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03530618.Copyright © 2022 European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

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